Oklahoma hires Moser
Porter Moser orchestrated one of the great underdog stories in sports in recent years, leading mid-major Loyola Chicago to two deep NCAA Tournament runs with the blessing of Sister Jean. Moser’s teams won’t surprise anyone now. Oklahoma hired Moser as its basketball coach Saturday following Lon Kruger’s retirement. Moser embraces the challenge of coaching at a Big 12 program that reached the Final Four in 2016 and has featured NBA talents Buddy Hield and Trae Young.
“I’ve always said there are reasons why you win,” Moser said. “If you look at the standards that the programs at Oklahoma have set, there are reasons why they’ve won. The coaches, infrastructure and community are all championship caliber. You just want to be a part of that. To play in a premier league like the Big 12 and be a part of this championship culture excites me.”
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said Moser’s “attributes, acumen and record of success totally aligned with what we were seeking.”
Moser led Loyola to the Final Four in 2018 and the Sweet 16 this year.
He went 188-141 in 10 years at Loyola and has a 293-242 record in 17 seasons as a college head coach, with stops at Arkansas-Little Rock (200003) and Illinois State (2003-07).
VOLLEYBALL Jaela Zimmerman
had a match-high 16 kills to lead Creighton to a 18-25, 25-19, 31-29, 25-22 victory over Marquette in the championship match of the Big East Tournament on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Golden Eagles (10-4) let leads slip away in both the second and third sets as it looked to secure the match.
MU fell to 5-21 all-time against Creighton and awaits its NCAA Tournament fate. The NCAA selection show is set for 3 p.m. Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Jamal Cain is leaving Marquette and headed home for his fifth season of college basketball.
The 6-foot-7 forward announced on Saturday that he will transfer to play for Oakland in the Horizon League. Cain hails from Pontiac, Michigan, not far from Oakland’s campus in Rochester.
Cain and fellow MU senior Koby McEwen both entered the NCAA’s transfer portal on March 26, the same day the Golden Eagles hired Shaka Smart as head coach to replace the fired Steve Wojciechowski.
Hill Tabbed: USA Basketball said Grant Hill will be the replacement for Jerry Colangelo as its men’s national team managing director following the Tokyo Olympics.
Hill won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. at the 1996 Atlanta Games and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 after an NBA career that spanned 19 seasons.
Colangelo has been planning to retire after the Tokyo Games, which were delayed one year to this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hayward sidelined: Gordon Hayward will miss at least a month after spraining his right foot during the Charlotte Hornets’ win Friday night over the Indiana Pacers.
The team said that Hayward will be reevaluated in roughly four weeks. He was injured when he stepped on Myles Turner’s foot while driving to the basket in the second quarter and immediately crumpled.
The 31-year-old forward is averaging 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game in his first season with the Hornets on a $128 million, four-year deal. This injury is on the opposite side of the gruesome broken left ankle Hayward suffered in his first game with the Boston Celtics in 2017.
TENNIS
No. 1-ranked Ash Barty won her second successive Miami Open championship by beating No. 8seeded Bianca Andreescu, who was injured when she fell and retired trailing in the second set.
Andreescu, crying and shaking her head, conceded while behind, 6-3, 4-0.
She stumbled and went sprawling two games earlier when she turned her foot awkwardly while hitting a forehand. During the ensuing changeover, a trainer taped her foot, but she played only five more points before retiring.
From Journal Sentinel wire reports